STAR WISHES
by GoldAngel2
Summary: Tie in to The Night of the Star Festival 009 reflects on the extraordinary day he experienced to 003 as they watch the stars together


_Author's Note: I just can't stop writing one-shots about these characters. This one is a follow-up to the episode entitled "The Night of the Star Festival" or as it's titled on the Japanese subtitled DVDs "July 7th" which is Tanabata Day, a Japanese holiday. The story gives a little more insight to Joe's background, specifically his mother which I got from a website that said she had gotten pregnant, was abandoned by the foreigner who did it, and died as she was leaving her baby at the church. And as usual, I don't own Cyborg 009, or its story line and characters, they are owned by TokyoTV, Avex-Mode and Toei Animation and was created by the late Shotaro Ishinomori._

**STAR WISHES**

The train shuddered to a stop, the final stop of the evening, the sun having set several hours ago. It was Tanabata Day, and a clear star studded night perfect for the night celebrating the star lovers, Vega and Altair. Legend had it that the two stars were once lovers that were separated all year except on night when they were reunited and that wishes made on the two stars would come true. Bamboo trees were set out of all the homes with wishes hung on their branches for the lovers to grant. And to watch the stars was an activity of many couples seen on this night with the extra added bonus this particular holiday of a meteor shower creating even more of a romantic flavor. But as even as late as he was returning the shower of shooting stars was in full force as Joe Shimamura, Cyborg 009 disembarked the nearly empty train, and headed in the direction of the beach house he called home. His mind was filled with thoughts of a most extraordinary day.

It had started with his deciding to take the holiday to go off by himself, informing Dr. Gilmore, 006, 007, and 003 of his plans. He left with 003 wishing him well, a smile lighting up her pretty face and he took the pleasant vision of that smile with him as he boarded the train.

Joe sat on the train as it started off, his destination really not set in stone as his reason for getting away somewhat a mystery to him as well, only that of late, he had been thinking about his mother a great deal. He had been sent some old papers that the Father had in storage for him and he found out that his mother had actually been a member of the church he had lived in, and that was why he had been brought there when she had been at death's door. He had read several letters she had written to the Father as she was carrying him having become pregnant by a foreigner who abandoned her. The letters pointed out how his mother had been literally cast out of her family, her disgrace of them by allowing herself to be deflowered so great that they washed their hands of her and her unborn child. Then when she discovered that she would not live to raise her baby, the Father had promised her that her baby boy would be cared for. It had made him pensive and he had kept everything inside, even choosing not to confide in 003, his shame making him tightlipped and remote even to her.

Joe had sat and sipped at a can of soda as he watched the landscape slide by and wondered about the village that his mother's family had lived, and if they still resided there. The letters mentioned that her family consisted of her parents and two older brothers, simple people who lived as the owners of a small rice business. He mused about the fact that they were, for all intents and purposes related to him by blood, and if he had any cousins. His eyes stared out at the countryside as it rolled by until a little girl spoke to him and shattered his reverie. Then began an odyssey that was incredible as the girl, Alice, accompanied him, speaking of coming from another time and told him that she was fulfilling a promise she had made to him long ago. That statement had alarmed him as his curiosity was piqued. So he strolled with the precocious child as they shared each other's company and she boldly asked some rather embarrassing personal questions until they had come to an abandoned dwelling of sorts. She then presented him with some snapshots that unnerved him, snapshots of him as a child, like a parent would lovingly preserve. He gazed at the girl as he wondered who she really was, and then she took him to an open field. Night had fallen and the stars were dazzling as the sky lit up with the meteor shower. Alice then asked Joe who was the person he wanted to see more than anyone and wish upon the stars for his desire so he did.

He was then transported to a river bank where four children, dressed in kimonos were casting their bamboo branches bearing their wishes in the river to see if Altair and Vega would accept and grant their wishes. The three boys had their branches float freely down, but the last child, a little girl had her branch caught on some rushes and so she lamented, drawing Joe's innate sympathy. He waded in the river and freed the encumbered branch, setting it free to follow the flow and the child looked up in gratitude, her pine forest eyes brimming with tears. Joe gazed at the girl and even though he was sure he had never seen her before, he suddenly felt like he knew her, knew who she was. He cried out "Mother!" and had then found himself on the train in broad daylight with tears running down his cheeks.

From that point on, 009 spent the rest of the day wandering aimlessly, thinking about the events that now seemed like a dream and about his mother. He periodically glanced at the snapshots Alice had given him and brooded for the entire afternoon and then after sunset, noticed the stars above scattered on the velvet clime. He then thought about his present family and went to the station to take the train back home. During the ride, he studied the photographs as he pondered the amazing occurrence that provided them that happened and yet at the same time did not.

Joe began walking the distance to the beach house as his mind spun with the idea, the possibility that maybe his mother had reached from Heaven and visited him this Tanabata Day. His heart, which had been so distressed by the discoveries of his background, had then become peaceful and light and he noticed how the sky was alight with the heavenly shower. He got closer to the beach house and saw that it was dark, as if everyone had retired. He walked around to the short staircase of the deck lit by Japanese lanterns and stopped as he saw the shadow of a figure there leaning at the rail. His eyes blinked and focused, then recognized the slender dancer's form in a sundress, slender legs exposed by the soft sea wind. It was at that moment Joe remembered the incident when Alice asked him if he had a girlfriend. He had become flustered at the child's question as ironically his thoughts had been on Francoise and what she was doing at that very moment, missing her. He hesitated and like every little kid when they know they have embarrassed an adult, she crowed in triumph as she guessed the truth. Now his personal thoughts exposed and trying to save face, he lied to the little girl, denying that he did have a girlfriend as a telltale blush proved the opposite. He stopped and savored the view of the girl that was uppermost in his thoughts even when other things were occupying his mind.

"Joe? Is that you?' the softy dulcet voice of 003 asked.

"Yeah." He climbed the steps and walked over to where she was standing, near the bamboo tree decorated with paper wishes, fluttering in the soft sea breeze. He gestured to the plant. "I see you finished your wish tree."

"Uh-huh." She turned and smiled at him. "Did you have a nice outing?"

Joe turned his head and stared out at the beating waves as they lapped the shore. He spoke in a slightly awed manner as he replied, "It was…interesting." He turned to her and added in a low voice, "Francoise, can I talk to you?"

"Of course, Joe." She noticed his strange manner and concerned, her smile faded as she asked, "Is everything all right?"

He glanced at the dark house and asked, "Where is everybody?"

Francoise replied, "They all went to bed after watching the meteor shower for a while." She gestured to the dark sky where some stray shooters left trails of light as they streaked across the heavens. "I decided to stay out here and watch for a while longer."

"So we're alone."

"Yes Joe we are. What's wrong?" Francoise was slightly alarmed by his seemingly uneasy manner.

He took her hand and led her to the bottom of the stairs to sit down. "Something really weird happened to me today. While riding on the train I met this little girl."

"Little girl?"

"Yeah, her name was Alice, she said and she was probably no more than 9 or 10. She didn't have any adults with her."

Francoise was surprised. "She was all alone?"

"Uh-huh. But she was being followed by these two guys dressed in black so she asked me to protect her."

Francoise smiled and patted his hand. "That's not so weird, Joe. You have a way with children and she probably saw that, especially without her parents around. So was she really being followed?"

Joe scowled as he remembered the two sneaky characters he had quickly dispatched. "Yeah, but I scared 'em and they took off.

"Still that's not so weird. There's a lot of crazy people out there and children traveling alone aren't safe."

Joe shook his head. "That's not the weird part. She walked around with me and said that I had to go with her, that she had to fulfill a promise she made to me."

"A promise she made to you? Was she someone you knew?" Francoise was puzzled.

"Before she came up to me, I never saw her before in my life," he swore as he took a deep breath. "But even that's not the weirdest part, she gave me these." He handed the snapshots to Francoise for her to peruse.

She rifled through the pictures of Joe at the orphanage, pictures of him as a baby and the one shot of him Alice took as they strolled around together. "These pictures of you as a child are very sweet, Joe."

"Thanks koishii, but that's not why I wanted you to see them. Do you see the kind of pictures they are?"

Francoise frowned as she rifled through them again. "They seem like the kind of pictures parents take of their children." She held up the one that was taken today. "Except this one, it looks like it was taken today because you have the same clothes on."

He took the pictures back. "It was taken today but about the other ones. Alice, the little girl, had me take her to this abandoned house and took the pictures out of a drawer and gave them to me."

Francoise was a bit confused. "But how would she have pictures of you as a child if you're sure you never saw her before? If she was 10 like you said, she wasn't even born yet when you were a child."

Joe shook his head as he said, "Not only that, but since they were taken while I was at the orphanage I wondered how they could've been taken. I know for a fact that the Father didn't take pictures of us so just who did take these pictures of me? And that's not all, Francoise."

She eyed him incredulously. "There's more?"

Joe nodded and continued, "She then led me to a field where we watched the shooting stars and she asked me if there was someone that I wanted to see more than anything, to look in the sky and wish for it. Then I was alone and by a river and there were four little kids, three boys and a little girl that were putting their wishing branches in the water to see if they would be granted. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

Francoise nodded as she added, "You're supposed to take the branches with your wishes and if they float away, the lovers will grant your wishes."

Joe smiled as he said, "You've done your homework on Tanabata Day." He went on, " Well, three of the kids threw their wishes in the river and they floated away but the little girl's branch was caught on some rushes in the river so I went down and untangled them. She looked at me and thanked me and honestly Francoise, I swear I felt like my mother was near me. Then I found myself still on the train. It was like I woke up from a dream and I was crying."

"Oh Joe," she said, her heart constricting for him. She reached to brush his bangs out of his eyes.

He took her hand and planted a kiss on the palm. Then he let go of it and jumped up. "Wait here I want to show you something, okay?" He headed up the steps into the beach house, closing the door carefully as not to wake everybody else inside.

Francoise sighed and then stared up at the stars, wondering what could be so important to Joe that he felt the sudden urgency to share it. Not that she was complaining but of late he had been rather reticent and had isolated himself from the entire team, including her. It had bothered her but she sensed the need to give him his space. She hoped whatever he was about to share with her would shed some light on his peculiar behavior.

The door opened and Joe stepped down and resumed his seat beside Francoise. He had a small packet of letters and a legal looking document. He handed them to her.

"A few days ago, I got these from the diocese. They were some personal papers of the Father's that they found and sent them to me because they thought I should have them. Take a look at them and tell me what you think."

Francoise unfolded the document that was actually Joe's birth certificate and a paper that was an official declaration signed by Joe's mother, giving him up. She then saw a packet of several letters, written by his mother to the priest. She looked up at him dubiously.

"Are you sure you want me to read this, Joe? It seems kind of private."

Joe gazed at her, his handsome face earnest. "Please read them and tell me what you think."

"Okay."

Francoise began to read the missives and her heart lurched at the anguish in the woman's words. The first letter told of her being abandoned and pregnant and her family disowning her. The second letter relayed her gratitude to the Father for his placing her in a catholic home for unwed mothers and finding her a job. The next letter was lighter as she shared the experience of carrying her child, then the next letter she stated her desire to raise her baby alone.

003 stopped for a moment and stated in a low voice, "Your mother was a very courageous young woman."

Joe nodded as he urged, "Read on."

Francoise resumed her reading. The next letter brought tears to her eyes as she read about Joe's mother's discovery of a terminal illness and her petition to the Father to care for her newborn baby boy. The words were heart wrenching as she read:

…_**so the doctor says that my time is short and I very likely won't see my baby grow up to be the man I know he can be so I beg you, Father please make sure he has a home. As you might have guessed my family has literally forgotten about me and my son does not exist to them so when I die, he'll have nobody. I love my little boy so much and I won't even see him grow up.**_

Her heart breaking for him, Francoise set aside the letter and wrapped her arms around Joe tightly, warm rivulets coursing down her cheeks as he leaned in, his own cinnamon eyes wet. They sat like that as the sorrow of the words hung over them like heavy drapes.

After a while, Francoise spoke with her voice catching, "Oh Joe, no wonder you were acting so distant to us these days. What a thing to read from your mother who you never even knew. How sad for you."

Joe took a deep breath and sniffled as he fought his tears. "Needless to say I've been thinking about my mother a lot after reading these letters. And by seeing this."

He handed her another snapshot, yellowed with age of a beautiful raven haired young woman with pine green eyes and Francoise saw the same fine features as Joe had. The resemblance was unmistakable.

"She was lovely, Joe. And from what I read I know that she loved you very much," Francoise said softly.

Joe nodded wordlessly as he gazed up into the starry clime, the meteors still slashing the dark backdrop with their luminous entrails. He spoke in a faraway voice, "All my life I had wondered and resented the fact that my mother didn't care enough to keep me. No matter what the Father did to prove different, I couldn't stop feeling that nobody, not even my own mother wanted me. And every time one of my friends or the other kids got lucky enough to be adopted, it just made me feel even more so." He sighed deeply then went on, "But after reading those letters and with what happened today, I'm ashamed at myself for feeling like that when she went through so much to bring me into the world." He then looked down at the snapshot in his hand and his eyes flew open, wide as saucers.

Francoise noticed his expression and alarmed she asked, "What is it, Joe? What's wrong?"

He stared at the picture as he answered slowly, "This picture. It looks just like that little girl whose wishing tree got stuck. And like Alice." He rose slowly to his feet and cast his eyes upward as an especially brilliant display of shooting stars crisscrossed the sky. Francoise too got to her feet and stood beside him watching.

"Alice had told me to think about the person I wanted to see more than anything and wish on the shooting stars that looked just like this. I guess I got my wish." He smiled down at Francoise as he held the snapshot before his eyes.

She nodded as she said softly "Happy Tanabata Day, Joe."

He smiled at her, his eyes crinkling as he slipped the photograph in his jeans and took her in his arms. Joe stood under the celestial light show and realized that he actually had another wish, one that he would no longer feel alone. He gazed at the pretty blonde in his grasp and then realized that the stars had granted two wishes that night so before he leaned down to capture her lips he silently gave his thanks.

END 


End file.
